The True Tournament
by SkyDreamer12
Summary: When the ninja are forced to compete in a Tournament in a new realm, they discover whether their new host is a friend or a foe. And for one ninja this could reveal a dark secret which could change the course of their life... forever. (Set after Season 6 and before Day of the Departed). DISCONTINUED. REWRITTEN AS 'YOUR GREATEST FEAR'.
1. The Invitation

' _My world was pitch black, I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear anything, feel anything. I felt trapped, I wanted to call out for the Kai or Wu or even my Dad, but I couldn't find my voice. I waited for something to happen, for anything to happen and then I heard voices. Quiet at first but they grew louder, and soon they were ringing in my ears. I didn't recognise these voices, but sounded like cries of joy… or fear?_

 _My eyes snapped open and I immediately wished they hadn't. I now knew that those cries were in fear. Everywhere, huge white flames burnt through, what appeared to be, wooden frames that formed some sort of grand monastery. I wanted to run and get out of the burning building, but my foot tugged on something cold, hard, and metal. As I looked down I realised that my foot had been chained to a pole and I also noticed that I was closer to the ground then usual and my limbs seemed shorter. I soon realised I was the size of a small child. I tried to call out for someone to help and explain what was happening but my voice wouldn't come out through all the smoke._

 _Suddenly one dark figure ran through the huge white flames and they were running toward_ me _. The figure held a large Katana in his hand and approached me with it high in the air. I flinched as the golden sword came soaring down toward my face. I waited for death, and for pain, but I didn't feel any. I heard the clanging of metal against metal. I looked down at my foot and saw that the chains around my foot were broken._

 _The figure then grabbed my hand, "Come on son, we must leave here at once!" The voice was a voice I hadn't heard in a very long time. 'Dad!' I tried to call but all that came out was a choke and a cough. As we were just about to leave the burning monastery a giant something reared in front of us. I cowered in fear, tightening my grip on my Father's hand, and he tightened his._

 _"_ _Garmadon, did you really think you'd essssscape me?" The giant something lowered it's head revealing a massive green serpent with scarlet red eyes. I stared at my Dad who gave the snake a look of disgust, anger and fear._

 _The snake soon began to shrink and transformed into a man, with light blonde hair, and scarlet red eyes. He was wearing a ninja gi had many different snake patterns, with several light green sashes, as well as a large sword on his back. The man waved his hands, and strong green jets hit me square in the chest. I grabbed my stomach and buckled over, pain was moving all through my body._

 _"_ _Looks like I've found my new heir." The man cried and he closed his hands into a fist. I screamed in agony, and collapsed on the ground in excruciating pain. And at that moment everything went black.'_

"Lloyd! Wake up sleepy-head! You're going to be late for training!" Kai shook his little brother as hard as he could, but Lloyd didn't respond.

He stopped shaking, knowing it wasn't any use. The kid kept turning while he slept and he began to mumble, _'Dad… Flames… Snake… Heir… DAD!'_ Kai could tell that Lloyd had probably had another one of his nightmares. He had been having these nightmares for about a week now. Just then, Lloyd opened his eyes and bolted upright.

"K-Kai?,' the kid looked at the clock beside his bed,' I'm.. going to be late for training. W-Why didn't you wake me up?'

Kai laughed and gave Lloyd a sympathetic smile. "I _did_ try and wake you up!"

Lloyd looked at the ground, with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

"Some dream you had there kiddo. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine it's just…"

"ALL NINJA PLEASE REPORT TO THE BRIDGE! WE HAVE A NEW MISSION FOR YOU!" Misako's voice rang all through Destiny's Bounty.

"Look's like we have a new mission Green-Machine. You better get your ninja suit on, don't want to turn up to wherever we're heading in your pj's." Lloyd didn't seem to be paying any attention to what Kai was saying which bothered the fiery ninja quite a bit. Lloyd was generally alert and hardly ever ignored anyone.

"Hey, you sure your okay Lloyd?" He stared at Kai wide-eyed and then shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You go ahead, I-I'll meet you on the Bridge." Lloyd's usual vibrant, warm emerald eyes, were now a sullen and cold dark olive. His positive attitude was also absent.

As Kai arrived at the Bounty's bridge he could tell the other ninja were getting impatient. "So Air-Head what took _you_ so long, and where's Lloyd?" Jay was seeming a bit impatient and honestly he couldn't blame him. If there was one person who _hated_ waiting, it was Kai.

"Uh.. Lloyd slept in, I was just waking him up." Kai caught Cole rolled his eyes, and turned to Misako who was studying a map.

No one said anything and the awkward silence was killing him, Kai had to say something but what? This was Lloyd's expertise… asking questions.

"Um.. what's the.. er.. new mission?" Kai cast a sideways glance at the door near the bridge hoping that Lloyd would walk in and begin to ask questions and get as much info as he could about the mission.

"There's been a break-in at the Hiroshi's Labyrinth, the Bounty's course is headed there right now." Misako left the old map, and turned toward one of the high-tech screens, where a digital map of the Labyrinth was veiwed. "Several vaults were broken into last night, including the one where the Realm Crystal was locked up. Apparently security forces only noticed it missing when they did the daily scan of the Labyrinth, to check on what's been locked up. So whoever robbed vaults must have been pretty stealthy to be able to get in and out undetected."

"Do we know how many vaults were broken into, and what were in them?"

"AAAAAH!" Jay jumped into Cole's arms, and sent the green ninja a glare. "Lloyd! It's about time, while you've been slacking we've been training! What have you been doing these past mornings huh?" Kai expected Lloyd to make some smart remark to combat Jay's cheek, but instead he just glared.

"We don't have time for this Jay, stop messing about." Kai and Nya exchanged glances, they had never seen Lloyd acted like this before. He seemed to be very on edge.

"Well son, all we know is that five other vaults were robbed,' Five vaults were highlighted in orange on the digital map,' but we have been given no information on what was stolen. I believe what was taken has most likely classified." When Misako finished, Jay was wearing a perplexed look.

"If you're wondering what this means, Jay. Technically, Mr Borg (who runs the Labyrinth), doesn't want us to know what was in those vaults, but why he would want to keep something classified from _us_ I am not certain."

"If you're right Zane, and Borg really doesn't want us to know, then these objects must be either really valuable or really dangerous and I think if it's valuable it's got to be dangerous. They also have the Realm Crystal which is extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. We need to get to the Labyrinth as fast as we can. Nya?"

"I'm on it!" Nya pressed a large red button on the dashboard and giant red jet's formed at the back of the Bounty and boosted the ship through the sky and toward the set destination.

"Wow Jay! You've really done good considering you're the Master of Blabber!" Jay gave Cole a death glare, while everyone else just laughed. That is, everyone but Lloyd.

"Kai, where's Sensei Wu?"

"He's downstairs in his room, _meditating_."

"Thanks bro."

Lloyd walked out of the bridge with the same dull look in his eyes Kai had seen earlier, and a frown had been plastered to his usually bright face.

All of the ninja were quiet for a while, and soon Misako left the bridge with several of her maps and scrolls. Kai was just looking at the ground, and trying to avoid any glances from the others, knowing they all expected him to explain in fuller detail why Lloyd had been late and why he was acting like this. Kai sighed, ' _Cue Jay interrupting silence in 3..2..1…'_

"Oh that's it! Are we going to pretend that something isn't wrong with Lloyd or what?" Jay folded his arms and everyone seemed to let out a breath of relief all at once.

"He has been really distant all week. I have spoken to him several times and he never seems to be listening, and for someone who has Lloyd's optimistic personality, this is uncommon."

"You're right Zane. When I went to wake him up this morning the kid was talking in his sleep and when he did wake up he seemed really bothered, and didn't really pay me any attention."

"Talking in his sleep? How often does that happen?"

"Pretty much, never."

"Guys enough!' Cole's face was pretty intimidating and Kai nearly took a step back,' Lloyd's our brother he knows he can trust us. If whatever's bothering him is serious he would tell us."

There was no way I was going to tell the other ninja about my nightmarish flashbacks. Sure they were getting worse and this was the first time I actually _saw_ something but still… there was _no_ way anyone was knowing. How much faith would my friends have in me if they knew I was afraid of a simple dream? Then again… it was very realistic. I could still feel the excruciating pain where those green jets had hit me. I was just going to get a bit of information out of my Uncle so I had some _insight_ to the dream, you might say.

I arrived at Sensei Wu's door and knocked, "Uh.. Sensei? C-Can I come in?"

"Of course, young nephew, you may enter." Sensei's voice drifted from inside the small room.

Slowly I opened the door, and entered my Uncle's quarters.

"I sense something is troubling you Lloyd, care to tell me what it is?"

I suddenly felt the urge to tell him all about the memory. About the evil sorcerer, about my Father saving me from the burning monastery, about the agony that the memory forced me to experience. Yet the more I thought about it, the sillier it sounded. And I also knew Wu probably had many other things to deal with so I simply looked surprised and said.

"There is nothing wrong Sensei, nothing at all. I just came to ask you a question."

"And what question would this be?"

I gulped and took a deep breath, I didn't need this to look any more suspicious than it need to be.

"Before the Serpentine war, did you have.. oh, I don't know, any other enemies?" Gosh, I knew that didn't come out right.

"Why do you ask this nephew?"

"I was just wondering if there were any other enemies out there that we should worry about." I could tell Wu didn't believe my lie and I was nervous he would demand the real reason why I asked. I held my breath preparing what I would say if it all went wrong.

Sensei Wu sighed. "A decade before you were born, your Father, he..."

"ALL NINJA REPORT TO THE DECK, WE ARE APPROACHING HIROSHI'S LABYRINTH. I REPEAT WE ARE APPROACHING HIROSHI'S LABYRINTH."

"Better get going Lloyd."

"But what were you going to say about my Dad?"

"Patience, it can wait another day."

"But Uncle, it's important!"

"And why is it important?" He had me there. I couldn't say why it was important without revealing the truth, which I didn't want to do.

"Fine, I'll go!" I was angry, and I didn't care if Wu knew it. If my Uncle truly cared for me and wanted the best for me, surely he could tell me a measly tale about my Dad! It couldn't be _that_ hard.

"Lloyd! Good you are here. What will be our first move?"

"O-Our first move?' I realised I was on the deck in amongst the other ninja, I hadn't been paying attention at all! 'Oh yeah… well first we're going to have to be taken to the Realm Crystal's vault, and look for clues onto who stole it, as well as check out the other five vaults. Whoever this thief is we need to catch him, who knows what they could do with the Crystal."

The Bounty landed just outside the _slightly_ hidden entrance to the Labyrinth. I had to turn my attention to the robbery and forget about my own problems. The Realm Crystal's existence wasn't common knowledge. So it had to be someone who had some background knowledge on it. The only person I that came to my mind was Morro. ' _No Lloyd, he's dead, he can't return.'_ And speaking of Morro… I was also slightly nervous because of the last time I investigated a break-in, let's just say it didn't go that well.

I was also worried this could be a trap, a cover-up to lure us in.

"Be alert guys, and stick together, it could be a trap."

Two Nindroid's approached us and spoke to us in a monotone… well, _tone_. "What brings the ninja to Hiroshi's Labyrinth? We were not expecting you."

I exchanged a glance with Kai, "You weren't? But what about the break-in?"

"Break-in? There has been no break-in."

"But we received a message from one of your generals saying that the Realm Crystal has been stolen, and 5 other vaults were raided." I was beginning to panic now. Unless these robots were rubbish at their job, I had a feeling that my 'trap' hunch was about to be proven correct.

"What kind of joke is this? Our forces are guarding the Realm Crystal as we speak." The droid showed a clear hologram of the Realm Crystal being guarded by several highly armed guards. My heart was pounding harder than ever, I knew in a few seconds there was going to be an ambush. I scanned the canopy for any sign of movement and all the surrounding forestry, yet I saw nothing.

Suddenly two red lasers shot both Nindroids. Several smoke bombs were thrown around us as well and we couldn't see anything, outside the small circle of smoke.

"What's happening?" Nya cried.

"It was a trap, whoever sent us that message wanted us to come here so they could ambush us."

In the corner of my eye I saw Kai gather a fire ball in his hand.

"Kai no! Using our powers and shooting them blindly into the smoke isn't very wise. We could hit the Bounty and cause more harm than good!"

"You know being wise isn't my strong suit, Lloyd. Besides what else are we gonna' do, just stand here?"

"Yes. If we get through the smoke the ambusher could easily just cloud us with more, it's best we just stay here and…"

"Just be quiet you two! Lloyd's right Kai we can't use our powers, but we should at least try and clear this stuff!" Nya gave Kai a firm look and both of us nodded in agreement.

Slowly but surely, the smoke soon began to encircle us and all I could see was grey. It was getting harder to breathe, and I could barely talk.

"Everyone! Form a circle! We must stick together!" I could feel two people next to me and judging my their ninja gi, Cole and Jay were my present company.

"Aaaaargh!" The scream was familiar it sounded like…

"Kai? Kai are you there? KAI?" there was no answer, and I assumed the worst.

"Lloyd, I am picking several life forms surrounding us, should we attack?"

"Can you tell which one of them are Kai, Zane?"

"No, sorry Lloyd, but the numbers are multiplying fast, we've got no choice, they're closing in."

"Fine. Ninja! Attack in every direction as fast as you can, we've been surrounded!"

The smoke was thinning and finally we were able to get a proper look at our attackers. I swallowed hard, and my body shook. Everywhere I looked bright green serpents, with scarlet eyes and huge fangs encircled us. There I was hunger in their eyes.

I felt trapped, just like when I was in that black abyss, the abyss that I explored every night, where I heard voices and screams. These warriors looked exactly like the great big snake I had seen in my memory, expect miniature.

"Are they… Serpentine?"

"They may be snake-people but they are certainly not Serpentine." A familiar voice sounded from a rock high above us. A man stood there and he was holding an unconscious Kai. It was…

"Ronan?" I stole a side-glance to Nya whose face was aflame with anger and fury.

"Look I know you what you're thinking but the guy who gave me this mission he…"

"Gave you an awesome price, so naturally you turned on your friends! And I guess this _guy_ gave you this army to aid you!"

"Nya calm down, I promise everything's going to work out."

"Ninja-go!" Nya's watery tornado tore through heaps of the snake people, but they pushed back and she fell to the ground.

Her face was filled with fear, the same fear I had felt when I was in front of the green serpent. A dart flew through the air and landed on Nya's arm, and her head hit the ground ten seconds after.

"I have the Master of Fire and Water. Now how about..."

"You're a monster Ronan! Ninja-go!" Jay spun into action, obviously furious he had laid even a finger on his _sweet-heart_.

"NINJA-GO!" We all began to fight. I was hitting as many of the snake people as I could but they were too over-powering. Then I remembered Kai slumped unconscious near Ronan, and Nya's face of terror. It definitely angered me to see them in that state. Nya overpowered so easily just like how I was overpowered by that sorcerer. A darker thought entered my brain. Kai had been taken from me, as quickly as my Father was. I felt my vortex get stronger, I hated seeing people suffer the way I have suffered. I gathered an energy ball and made it larger, this stopping my vortex but not my temper.

"Lloyd what are you…" I unleashed the energy out at all sides, releasing a huge amount of anger, and a huge amount or power. The snake army were thrown all throughout the forest and the trees. I smiled, happy that I was able to conquer the huge army, but then a thought struck my head, a horrible, fearful thought. I slowly turned around, heart pounding, I stopped and then my heart stopped.

All the other ninja were lying unconscious on the ground, having also been hit by the ray.

"Thanks Lloyd! You just made my job ten times easier! Now all I have left is you."

I didn't hear what he said properly. I was just looking at what damage I had caused because I let some _stupid_ dream get to me. I heard something wiz past my face and I looked up at Ronan. He was wearing a very devious smile with a dart gun in his hand. I flipped back and somersaulted jeering at the pathetic bandit.

"If you want to catch me Ronan you're going to have to find me!" I thought of Sensei's old monastery and pictured it in my mind, as fresh as if it was right in front of me. I spun a couple times and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Ronan watched as his future captive escaped his grasp.

"Darn it! Oh well, I'll have to come back for him, but first I need to take these guys back." Ronan pulled out the Realm Crystal that he had stolen.

"Pity that their daily scan doesn't pick up fake objects, otherwise they would have actually been investigating a break-in! So gullible those ninja." Ronan checked on his satchel which had several small clear crystals, that had also been stolen and replaced in the Labyrinth.

"It's also a pity that the Labyrinth's security was poor enough to let me steal and replace goods in half the vaults!"

He tied all five of the ninja up and lifted the Realm Crystal to the Sun. The light rays hit the Crystal and it began to glow.

"The Elemental Realm!" He cried and a blue portal opened up. He threw the tied ninja into the portal and then the Realm Crystal and the satchel.

"You may have won this time Lloyd, but you won't be able to run forever. But now, I'm off to explore a new Realm." He jumped in and the portal closed up.


	2. The Elemental Palace

Kai slowly opened his eyes, trying to figure out what had happened, and why he had been unconscious in the first place. The last thing he remembered was being surrounded by smoke and then a hand came out of no where and… he couldn't remember anything from there.

The red ninja looked around taking in his surroundings. He was in what seemed to be a hotel suite just a lot smaller and for some reason it seemed to reflect his elemental power. There was a lavafall beside his bed, emanating an impressive amount of heat. As it hit the ground a small river curved across the top of his bed and circled around his room. The floor boards were smooth and well polished and the wood that formed the walls and his bedside table was a deep shade of reddish brown.

There was a small empty cupboard in the corner made from the same wood as the walls, one wall and a huge mirror and there were several tapestries everywhere, each with different patterns and shapes that Kai recognised as fire dragons. One of the tapestries that was hung in front of his bed held the fire dragon emblem on the top and five portraits. Kai only recognised two of these portraits as his Father and himself.

Kai approached an iron door he presumed led out of the suite. He carefully pushed the handle not daring to breath incase this was some sort of trap. The door swung open despite it's presumably heavy weight and Kai quickly walked through it as it slammed behind him.

He had stepped into a circular chamber, with the same dragon patterns on the walls that were inside his room, except they were all different colours representing different elements. A large stairwell was in the centre of the chamber and lead to floors above and below. Eighteen iron doors the same as the one he had just walked though encircled the chamber. Each had an inscription on it; Kai looked over his inscription and read ' _Master Of Fire_ '. He barely had time to question this before he heard a muffled conversation coming from the floor below.

Kai walked down the stairs and looked across the room he was now in. the chamber was identical to the one above, but it was lighted much better and there was a bar, and several clusters of tables and chairs. Kai got the idea that it was probably a dining hall.

He was surprised though at who were the ones having the conversation. "Neuro? Turner? Shade? Tox? Skylar? What are you all doing here?" Kai noticed the Skylar looked really worried, what that girl could be worried about he had no idea.

"We were all captured by Ronan. All the Elemental Masters are here and I have the strangest feeling we're _not_ in Ninjago."

"Are the rest of the ninja here?"

"Well, _most_ of them anyway." I raised my eyebrows at that answer. Who was missing?

"If you would like to know where your friends are. They are two floors up from here, on the television floor." Neuro looked distant, yet slightly amused.

"Television floor?"

"You'll see what I mean."

He thanked Neuro and raced up to flights of stairs and came into a chamber that seemed to be covered from roof to floor in TV screens. Several lounges were placed around the room not in any specific seating, though.

"Kai!" Nya lunged herself at Kai knocking the fire ninja onto the ground. The embrace was slightly awkward, and he felt heat begin to rush to his face.

"It is good to see you are okay my friend." Zane smiled, his glowing eyes seemed to reflect a lot of relief. Nya finally realised him and Kai got to his feet frowning.

"Okay, where are we and why you all acting like I nearly died." My friends looked at each other concerned.

"Ronan was hired by some buffoon to capture us and take us here. He was aided an army of Serpentine,' Zane gave Cole a disapproving look,' okay so he said they weren't Serpentine, but I they were snake-people. You were taken while we were surrounded and then Nya was knocked out… and we began to fight the army and we were attempting to retreat…" Kai looked at Cole whose ghostly face had paled. He began to look at the other ninja to finish the sentence but they were all looking at the ground.

The red ninja finally felt like something was missing and then he pieced two and two together. Panic began to settle in the pit of his stomach.

"Guys, where's Lloyd?"

* * *

 _'_ _I was climbing down the stairs of a monastery, going slowly. I could tell my young self was feeling pride in being able to tackle the mountainous wooden passage to the upper levels. I couldn't help laughing, and I had no idea whether that was apart of my memory or if I did that myself._

 _When I reached the ground floor I began to run. I didn't really know where I was going, so I just let the memory do it's thing. I entered what appeared to be a kitchen. Some sort of cake sat on the bench and my little body seemed attracted to it. I tried to reach up and grab the cake but I was no where near the top._

 _I could hear footsteps coming down the hall leading to the kitchen and I suddenly felt tense and kept on reaching to try and get the cake off the bench. Soon the footsteps stopped behind me and I looked up to see my Dad's face smiling down at me._

 _"_ _Can't wait for the party, huh? Nah, me neither, but your mother would kill me if I ate this thing so we're going to have to wait." My little self frowned, but I was longing for my Dad to speak again._

 _"_ _Come on let's head outside, I'm sure the guests will be arriving soon. We can greet them together." I nodded and my Dad picked me up._

 _I didn't want this dream to end. This was time I never really had experienced with Dad and I didn't want it to go away. But I could feel the world was fading, but it stopped only half way._

 _I was seeing flashes of memories. Me eating the cake, opening presents, playing with my Dad. Then there were screams, and I saw fire, a snake person approaching me and chaining me to a pole. Then the horrible pain again, my Dad yelling for the torture to stop and two red glowing eyes, looming closer and closer.'_

"NOOOOOOOO!" I sat upright, trembling in cold sweat. I began to breathe deeply to calm down but it wasn't working. I ran my hands through my blonde hair, my eyes wide. I felt nervous and jittery, my anxiety levels rising. I had no idea why though. Nobody was dying, nobody was hurt, and… I couldn't say nothing was wrong, but there was hardly any reason for me to be worried. I looked up into the ruins of Uncle Wu's old monastery. No, didn't want to be here anymore, it reminded me too much of dream-memories.

I tried to decipher what had happened in this dream. It was my birthday, the sorcerer had attacked on my birthday. That snake army that had attacked my friends before had been the same one that had attacked my childhood home and the one that had chained me.

Anger boil up inside of me and I was suddenly afraid. Now whoever had hired Ronan, had my friends and I had an awful feel in my gut that kept telling me it was that evil sorcerer. Somehow I had to get to them, but I had no idea where they could be or how to find them.

"So… where to next Lloyd? Still running?" Ronan was sitting atop one of the ruins of Uncle Wu's old monastery.

"Stay away!" I had no idea why I yelled that, and I heard the traitor smirk.

"Look kid,' I gave Ronan a death glare, I hated it when people called me 'kid',' My boss was pretty mad when I turned up without you. So if you come with me, I'll take you to your friends, and then you'll be happy, and I can be paid!" I saw out of the corner of my eye, several snake-people closing in on me. I sighed.

"I guess I've got no choice, do I?"

"No, not really." Ronan did his familiar whistle and _Rex_ came flying out of no where and stopped beside the smuggler, hovering mid-air.

"Well? You coming?" I rolled my eyes and smiled. I jumped up, flipped and landed on _Rex_. I saw Ronan roll his eyes and mouth 'Show off'. He ruffled though a satchel and pulled out the Realm Crystal.

"How did you-"

"I have my ways,' He lifted the crystal and let it catch the sun rays,' Elemental Realm!" He yelled and a blue portal opened up. Ronan revved _Rex's_ engines and we dived into the portal.

* * *

Skylar heard Kai's loud yell echo through the palace. She looked at Neuro and twitched her head upwards, Neuro nodded. They got up and together left the table where Shade, Tox and Turner were still chatting.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE _ATTACKED_ YOU!"

"He made this huge blast, I've never seen him do it before, well… in anger anyway."

"Wait, anger?" Kai had calmed down but he was still worried. Skylar knew something was up with Lloyd. Knowing the green ninja, he hardly ever acted out of anger, and was generally quite well tempered... most of the time.

"What do you think is up with him?" Skylar asked.

"I don't know. He's been acting pretty strange lately, showing up late to training, and he's been in a really bad mood."

"And why is showing up to training bad?"

"Well.. because, well... Kai says he's been having these nightmares and when he started them he wasn't this normal self."

"Cole I hate to say this, but I don't think Lloyd does trust us. To tell us what's wrong anyway."

Skylar watched Kai's face get overwhelmed with fear. She knew the red ninja was fond of Lloyd, and she also hated what would happen to Ninjago's best warrior.

Suddenly a booming voice sounded from… well she couldn't tell what.

"COULD ALL ELEMENTAL MASTERS PLEASE REPORT TO THE FOURTH FLOOR, ALL ELEMENTAL MASTERS REPORT TO THE FOURTH FLOOR!"

The voice sounded unused and raspy. Skylar then noticed that there was a plaque attached on top of one of the TV's and it read '4th Floor'. Several of the masters came up after climbing the stair case, looking highly annoyed.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Well I just wanted to introduce myself to you all."

Skylar turned to the sound of the voice and saw very old man approach them. He had white blonde hair, dull scarlet red eyes and he was wearing robes with several snake patterns on them.

"I hope young Ronan treated you well." The man rasped. Many Masters grumbled and rolled their eyes, while the ninja had stone-cold looks plastered onto their face.

"Apparently not. Well my name is Master Katan and I am here to invite you all to…"

"Invite? You had us captured! I hardly consider that as a welcome!" Skylar looked over to Kai who seemed to be fuming and noticed he wasn't the only one contorted with anger.

"Yes, well. After your previous Tournament I merely presumed that you would reject my invites, so I got Ronan here to get you all here by, well… force. Anyway I have invited you all here because I wanted to recreate an old tradition of the Elemental Masters. Long ago your ancestors would have a Tournament each year and this would determine which element is the most powerful and their accommodations were in this very palace. I have decided to invite all known Elemental Masters to a realm of peace, and harmony. The Elemental Realm!"

There were several whispers that went throughout the group, Skylar knew this place hadn't felt right. She wished she could see outside, the only problem was there were no windows in this building.

"In this Realm your powers are yours to keep, and cannot be taken away from you. This should hopefully be reassuring for you after your _previous_ ventures."

"Where's Lloyd?" Many Elemental Masters called this out and Katan's face simply smiled.

"Ronan is… _collecting_ him as we speak. You are welcome to explore the realm, but do be careful of the Fire Forest to the north, it doesn't welcome visitors, and hardly anyone has entered it."

Obviously Katan realised that none of them were content with his answer and he merely sighed.

"If you are worrying about… _Lloyd_ then you are worrying for nothing. The boy should get here without any trouble at all, so just stay calm. If you were wondering what I meant by a Fire Forest, each location here is themed after a different element. There are the Ice Plains down south, and the Toxic Bogs are south west. There is a map on the first floor if you wish to explore the realm."

Skylar looked at the ninja who had really worried looks on. Katan left the Masters to continue what they were doing. Skylar immediately walked up to Kai and the others.

"Was it just me or did he try and _avoid_ saying Lloyd's name?"

"It wasn't just you. Something is up and removal of powers or not, I don't like the idea of this Tournament."

 **Sorry about the late update, I've been a bit busy so it's been difficult to write. I've already started on Chapter 3 so that'll be coming out soon.**

 **Anyway I would just like to thank EnergyBlastDiamond, PixelatedNinjas and RandomDragon for their reviews and I wanted to let you guys know that the reviews mean quite a lot to me.**

 **Until next chapter, SkyDreamer out!**


	3. Arrival Of The Green Ninja

Jay was worried about Lloyd. The green ninja's outburst back near the Labyrinth had really shaken Jay's confidence in the kid's emotional state and leadership abilities. Sure, Lloyd had been upset about his Dad, but it hadn't affected his role as a leader. Something was happening in the little guy's head and it really bothered the blue ninja that he was in the dark of it all.

Though Jay was worried, he couldn't help but admire his awesome room. The walls were a sort of periwinkle blue, and the carpet was a strong royal blue. His bed sheets were blue, and so was his electronic cupboard, and giant TV screen. Blue, everything was blue. The best colour of the rainbow.

He had little time to dwell on that though because he could hear Ronan landing _Rex_ outside the palace. This meant that either he'd been able to 'capture' Lloyd, or the green ninja was still on the run in Ninjago.

Jay raced into the main bedroom chamber and ran down the stairs towards the bottom floor. Kai and Nya were one step ahead of him, with Cole and Zane bringing up the rear.

Jay hadn't been on the bottom floor yet. It was identical to the bedroom chamber except it only had one small reddish wooden door leading outside in the direction of the Fire Forest, several windows aligned the walls and a chandelier was hanging from the roof lighting the entire place up.

The huge wooden double doors which were the entrance to the palace opened abruptly and in stepped Ronan. Jay looked at him with hopeful eyes, Ronan's face showed no expression. The blue ninja began to feel the _blues_ kicking in. No green ninja was entering. Jay sensed Katan's presence behind him, distracting Jay. Despite the guys small stature he was pretty intimidating and slightly scary.

Jay began to turn around when the door opened a second time and immediately the blue ninja turned to face the door. A familiar face, with emerald green eyes and blonde hair, wearing a green ninja gi, stepped into the hall and had several people hugging him all at once.

* * *

I had no idea what was happening. Several people were calling my name and I couldn't help but laugh, knowing it was the team.

"Lloyd! I'm so glad you're okay!" Kai was beaming brightly, and I gave him a smile, it was the best I could manage. It was good to see that the team was okay, and they didn't look hurt or sore at all. What a relief, I had worried that they may be suffering from some of the injuries during the energy blast.

Speaking of which… The warm welcome became suddenly awkward. Nya seemed suddenly interested in the wall's dragon carvings, and I gave her a questioning look. I turned to the others, to see if they had an explanation but Jay, Cole and Zane also became very intrigued by the carpet. I hung my head and made to proceed further inside with Kai.

Kai led the way to a staircase in the middle of the room, at least he didn't seem to hate me. As we approached the stairs, I realised there had been six people to greet me at the door, not five. A voice called my name and echoed around the room sending a shiver down my spine. I had heard that voice before, I could've sworn it.

"Lloyd Garmadon, it is a pleasure to finally meet you at last." I shakily turned around, and my jaw to dropped into a perfect 'o' shape. There standing right in front of me was a man with scarlet red eyes, white blonde hair, and he was wearing some green robes that represented a snake all too well. But there was something different, he didn't look as menacing as he had in the dreams, there was a hint of… guilt? Kindness? I honestly couldn't tell.

"My name is Katan Haigon, and I would like to welcome you to my Elemental Palace. I'm sure your friends will be able to fill you in. I do hope you enjoy yourself here." Katan held out his hand to me, completely oblivious to the fact I was dead-scared.

I shook his hand and I could have sworn I felt a small jolt of pain sere through my arm. I held that said arm in my hand and gave Katan's smiling face a swift glare.

"Yes, I think they could _definitely_ aid me an explanation."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the ninja give me puzzled looks and I turned around promptly, stomping up the stairs. Kai and I past several levels and reached a floor where, to my surprise, the other elemental masters were having several conversations. While Kai led me to a room (which I presumed would be mine), these old _friends_ gave me quizzical looks too. I was sick of people looking at me as if I had killed somebody or something. I could feel my anger boiling up and my hand began to shake with a green haze. I held it firm and ignored the starers.

Kai opened a door that lead into a small emerald room, which I entered and sat down on the unusually soft bed.

"Well Lloyd, you're sure in a _great_ mood."

"Very funny Air-head,' Kai raised his eyebrows and I looked away,' "now tell me why the heck we're here."

The red ninja was quite nervous when he spoke, and I felt slightly ashamed. "K-Katan hired Ronan to capture us because he knew we wouldn't except his invitation."

"What _invitation_?"

"An invitation to another Tournament of Elements. Our ancestors used to battle in a tournament every year to prove who has the most powerful element. Don't worry our powers can't be taken away in this realm. Are you okay Lloyd? You haven't been like yourself at all lately. Zane told us what happened outside the Labyrinth… LLOYD ARE YOU GOING TO REPLY OR WHAT?" I rolled my eyes as Kai lost his temper. It just made me even more angry.

At that moment the rest of the ninja walked in and immediately the atmosphere changed from awkward to intense. I realised I was going to have to put on another act, and make up another story or tell them the truth. Though I wanted to do the latter, and urge told me not to.

"Look, I'm sorry about before with… Katan, was it? He looks like someone I know, though now I realise it, I don't know him. And back at the Labyrinth, I didn't mean that at all, I just lost my temper, it happens to all of us, doesn't it?" I could tell they weren't satisfied, but to be fair it was half of the truth.

"Stop playing dumb with us Lloyd. We know somethings wrong, because you don't normally just _lose_ your temper. And you will normally greet our hosts graciously. Plus, I don't remember you ever attacking us with your energy." Now that was irony in itself, but Nya's voice was strong and I frowned, this was a tough one to escape.

"Well, our hosts don't usually capture my friends and act like all is good in the world! And I do lose my temper, mainly at… my Dad." The room fell silent and I stared at the ground feeling a prickling at the side of my eyes. Oh how I regret those moments I got angry with him, I would do anything to relive the times when he was alive.

"Lloyd, we're worried about you. We're you friends you can tell us anything." Now that fired up my temper, once again they were treating me like a little innocent kid.

"Well maybe you should just stop worrying! **I can take care of myself!** " I turned my back on them and they all stared wide eyed at me. Cole looked at the others, nodded and they all left the room.

I turned around the felt relieved that they had gone. I lay down on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. Typical. Everything in the room resembled a snake.

I didn't like staring at images that looked so much like the giant serpent in my head. The patterns ruined the emerald green that reflected off practically everything! Green was a calming colour, and just staring into it always allowed me to clear my head.

Though I hated to admit it, Nya had been right. I hardly ever lost my temper. I always strived to be calm, and act with a cool head.

And why was I trying to keep everything from the team anyway? I trusted them with my life, they were pretty much the only friends I had. I made my mind up to go to them the tell the truth. After all they were just some stupid nightmares, right?

As I traipsed across the soft carpet towards the wooden door, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a rounded stone mounted on the wall.

I walked up to it and inspected the stone carefully, it looked out of place and I believed it was a button. I pushed down on it and the stone slid into the wall! The emerald wall began to slowly unfold and revealed a passage way.

Without thinking I immediately ran through the passage, my excitement mounting high. The passage only went in one direction, there were no corridors, no levers, nothing, this was definitely odd. I kept on running until my head hit something hard. I was knocked onto my back, and as I looked up disappointment began to sink in.

There was a solid smooth wall right in the way of the passage, a dead end. And here I thought I would uncover some super secret plot! I began to walk back through the passage and entered the emerald room. The walls folded in again, and I once again wearily lay down on my bed.

* * *

Checking through the security camera's he gave a huge sigh of relief. Lloyd hadn't discovered his secret… yet. Of course there would have to be a time when the young Garmadon would have to be told the truth, but not today.

The panic was now filled with satisfaction and pride. The plan was working perfectly, and the main part was now in motion. Seeing Lloyd turn on his friends and lose his temper, was music to his ears. Just a little longer and the boy would be released from the horrid dreams. Now which 'nightmare' to play into his head this time? Perhaps… yes.. he believed Lloyd was ready for this one. The green-clad form began to slowly close his eyes and fall into a deep slumber. He pressed a large red button, and sat back to watch the show. Lloyd began to toss and turn, murmuring things as he slept.

Everything was falling into place, and now Operation True Tournament could commence.


	4. DISCONTINUED

**Hey everyone!**

 **So I know I haven't updated in a while and I have a completely valid reason for that. But first things first, I've decided to repost True Tournament. It'll still have a similar plot, but with the way the story was heading, the characters weren't staying in character. Katan, the main villain and all the other characters will be in it as well.**

 **I'll be reposting it as Your Greatest Fear (True Tournament Repost).**

 **Now for my valid reason. So my laptop hard-drive broke, and I lost all my documents (so the finished and about to be published chapter 4). Then I had to wait a couple months to get my computer replaced. And then I had to set it up etc. And then school and writers block. I couldn't remember what was supposed to be in the next chapter and I went through the story a gazillion times, but the more I looked at it, the more the story just didn't feel right.**

 **So yeah, Chapter 1 of Your Greatest Fear will be coming soon.**

 **(Sorry, for the inconvenience).**


	5. REWRITE IS OUT!

**Hey everyone!**

 **Bet you didn't expect another update from this fanfic did you?**

 **It's not a real update, unfortunately. Just me letting you wonderful people know that the Re-write for this is out!**

 **It's called Your Greatest Fear btw. So it's basically the exact same overall plot, I'm just going from a different angle. Seriously this story has gone through so many different plot ideas I don't even know if I'll be sticking to the plot I have for Your Greatest Fear, you never know. But I'm definitely _not_ going to rewrite Your Greatest Fear! That I'm certain of.**

 **If you enjoyed this fanfiction then please go check Your Greatest Fear out! The first chapter came out on Saturday (Aussie time) and the next chapter will be coming out this weekend.**

 **Thank you for following this story. It meant and still does mean a lot to me.**

 **Until next time!**

 **SkyD12 Out!**


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